Ugandan studies obesity cure
DISCOVERED: Prof. Ntambi
By Charles Wendo
A US-based Ugandan professor has made research that could lead to an effective treatment against obesity.
Prof. James Ntambi, a professor of biochemistry and nutrition at the University of Winsconsin, Madison, said a Canadian pharmaceutical company was already using the findings to develop a drug against obesity.
Ntambi discovered that blocking the effects of a single gene, SCD-1, stopped experimental mice from becoming obese. The treatment also protected mice from diabetes.
In his experiment, mice that were born without the SCD-1 gene remained lean despite eating plenty of feed that would normally cause obesity. Since the same gene is responsible for obesity in man, he hopes obesity could be treated or prevented by blocking this gene.
�You can not remove a gene out of a human being but you can block its action,� Ntambi told The New Vision. He is in Uganda on a short working visit.
The findings has resulted from 20-year-long study. In 1987 Ntambi discovered that the SCD-1 gene was responsible for obesity. Since then he has been working out means to block the effects of the gene.
Ntambi said unlike the common slimming pills, which only have temporary effects, a drug developed from his research would tackle obesity from the routes.
Last year the Ministry of Health warned that because of Western eating habits and lack of exercise, the number of obese Ugandans was increasing.
Apart from physical problems, obesity increases the risk of diabetes.
New Vision: Thursday, 15th January, 2004
more info at: www.biochem.wisc.edu/ntambi/index.html
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